Benjamin Baxter Dailey (1844-1914) was the keeper of several lifeboat stations for the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian eff ...

—one of the precursor services to the

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. On December 22, 1884, when he commanded the

Cape Hatteras Lifeboat Station A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used thr ...

, he led the rescue of nine men from the ''Ephraim Williams''. For this rescue, Dailey and his crew were awarded the

Gold Lifesaving Medal The Gold Lifesaving Medal and Silver Lifesaving Medal are U.S. decorations issued by the United States Coast Guard. The awards were established by Act of Congress, 20 June 1874; later authorized by . These decorations are two of the oldest me ...

The stranded men had been shipwrecked in a heavy storm for 90 hours, five miles, or seven miles, off the coast of

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. As a temperate barrier island, the landscape has been shaped by wind, waves, and storms. There are long stretches of beach ...

. According to ''

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'' Dailey explained in his report to superiors that he wasn't able to draft a report on the rescue for seven days as his hands were too raw from the exertion. The US

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's has preserved Dailey's medal at its Hatteras Museum. In 2014 the Coast Guard published a list of ten individuals who were to be namesakes for Sentinel class cutters. All the Sentinel class cutters are to be named after men and women who have been recognized as heroes serving in the US Coast Guard, or a precursor service. Dailey was named in the second cohort of heroes, and the USCGC ''Benjamin Dailey'' was accepted by the Coast Guard in April 2017. The cutter was commissioned in Pascagoula, MS on 4 July 2017, with almost 100 members of the Dailey family in attendance. David Stick, author of ''"Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast"'', described the wills made out by Dailey and his crew, when he commanded the Creed's Hill Lifesaving Station in April 1881, prior to setting out on a particularly dangerous rescue effort.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dailey, Benjamin B. 1844 births 1914 deaths Recipients of the Gold Lifesaving Medal United States Life-Saving Service personnel Place of birth missing